The Children's Book of Birds

Eggs are not all alike, of course. One the size of a bean is large enough to hold a hummingbird baby, till it is old enough to come out. But the young ostrich needs a shell near...

The father stayed away an hour or more, and before he came back that young woodpecker had learned to help himself very well; though the minute his father came, he began to flutt...

The fall travel begins soon after the first of July. The bobolink is one of the first to leave us, though he does not start at once on his long journey. By that time his little...

The BALTIMORE ORIOLE, who has several other names, such as fire-bird, golden robin, and hang-nest, is a very showy bird, in bright orange and black. He has a fine though short s...

Then the blue jay baby was put into another cage, where were two young catbirds. To these he was very loving. He would sidle up to them and caress them, stroking their backs and...

The belted kingfisher is large and rather chunky. He is dark blue above and white below, with a bluish band across the breast. He has a fine crest and a big head, and he sits up...

THIS family is small in our country. There are only three members of it that we are likely to see. But they are most dainty and lovely birds. They are the two kinglets or little...

The LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE, who is perhaps the most widely known, builds a bulky nest in a tree, and is very attentive to his mate while she is sitting. She looks exactly like him.

The mockingbird is one of our most knowing birds, and when one is tamed and free in a house, he is very amusing. He is as full of fun as a catbird, and as funny to watch. A true...

The nest of the song sparrow is on the ground or very near it. Sometimes it is in a tuft of grass, sometimes in a low bush a few inches up. One I found at the roots of a little...

The red-headed woodpecker has learned to catch flies like a common flycatcher. The yellow-bellied, or sapsucker, cuts holes in the trees, and eats the insects that come to feed...

The way the mother hummingbird feeds her babies is curious. When she comes with food, she alights on the edge of the nest, and pulls a little one up so that she can get at it. T...

The tail is used more than any other organ to express the emotions. Some birds, like the catbird and thrasher, keep it moving nearly all the time, jerking it this way and that,...

Then try to discover what it is--insect or seed, beetle, grub, or worm--and what he does with it,--swallow it at once, beat it to death, or hold it in his mouth uneaten.

But the hard-working osprey has an enemy, who makes it his business to rob him. The way the fish hawk gets his food is to dive for it. He hovers over the water till he sees a fi...

THE CHILDREN'S BOOK OF BIRDS combines under a single cover the First and Second Books of Birds, originally published in 1899 and 1901 respectively and still popular with childre...

Plumage, the nestling, ~1~, 22, 23; coloration of, 23, 24, 27, 28; moulting, 25, 26, 118; change of color without moulting, 26, 27, 118-120; protective coloration of, 120, 121;...